Slouching Towards Tehran

Here's a European diplomat from a couple years back, on how to deal with Iraq:

Our diplomacy is an attempt to prevent an escalation. You may criticize it as being lengthy and not especially promising, but I believe that it is both smart and correct to reserve the possibility of cautious steps toward escalation (e.g. to keep the possibility of an escalation on the table).

Oh, wait. That's German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier talking to Der Spiegel yesterday about the Quartert negotiations with Iran over the Iranian nuke program.

Some things never change ... but in this case, WMDs are a reality or near-reality and letting diplomacy go even one day too long could have disasterous results.

The next step will be a Security Council resolution opening the door for Iran to accept Russia's offer to enrich uranium for the Iranians. That has to be the last step ... one more Ahmadinejan moment and diplomacy must come to an end.